Chapter 2: Achievement: There Was Plenty of Room to Improve in the Early Game

Tang Danqing’s holographic interface ring had three main game buttons:

[Info], [Quest], and [Shop].

[Shop] opened the Pocket Shop. It had an incredible range of items, but after a few pages, the prices climbed well beyond what Tang Danqing could afford.

The [Quest] tab held two kinds of quests: main quests and side quests.

[Main Quest: Make a bed comfortable enough for you to sleep through the night.]

[Side Quest 1: Keep exploring and unlock five Achievements. (1/5)]

[Side Quest 2: Supporting each other is especially important in winter. Make your roommate feel “happy” once.]

Tang Danqing clicked [Info] to take a look.

[Residence Information]

[Supply Score: 5 (Rating: Wilderness survival for fun. If you’re looking to die, this is the place.)]

[Security Score: 60 (Rating: An abandoned corner nobody cares about.)]

So she was in the early game, with plenty of room to improve.

Tang Danqing had only just started playing. She didn’t mind the abandoned, empty surroundings; her attention quickly settled on the quests. One step at a time.

Of the available quests, the easiest seemed to be Side Quest 2: make her roommate feel “happy” once.

By the time Tang Danqing called her over, the NPC roommate had made it from the staff room to the living room. She stood in front of the wood-burning heater, looking cautious but thrilled.

Her eyes filled with disbelief as she watched the bright red flames flickering inside it.

Then she glanced at Tang Danqing.

Tang Danqing smiled at her.

“You’re cold. Stand here by the heater for a while.”

The NPC ought to be happy soon, Tang Danqing thought. Then she could complete a quest.

But no. She’d misjudged it.

She went to look around the master bedroom and the second bedroom. When she came back, the NPC was turning the firewood with a pair of tongs, protecting the fire and trying to keep warm.

When she saw Tang Danqing return, the NPC said softly, “Are you cold? You can come over, too.”

She stepped away from the heater to make room.

“I’m fine. Are you feeling any better?” Tang Danqing reached out and checked the temperature of her blond hair. It wasn’t ice-cold anymore.

The NPC nodded gently. “Thank you. I feel all right now. What do you need to do next? I can help.”

Shang You seemed to glimpse a chance to stay. She watched Tang Danqing’s expression, doing her best to make herself useful.

The NPC had relaxed a little, but Side Quest 2 was still incomplete. Getting her to feel “happy” wasn’t as easy as Tang Danqing had expected. She’d have to try one of the other quests.

“Where do you sleep at night?” Tang Danqing asked.

“In the staff room… on the bed frame,” the NPC replied.

That made sense. The little room was cramped and held the heat. It was probably the warmest place in the whole suite.

But Tang Danqing hadn’t considered it as a place to sleep. She’d already picked out the master bedroom and led her roommate there with the new heater.

The master bedroom was bleak and bare, with the mattress and bedding stripped from the bed. Tang Danqing said, “We’ll sleep in here from now on.”

We?

Shang You thought over everything the woman had said and done. It seemed she had decided to move in.

Tang Danqing rubbed her chin, apparently staring at empty air but actually peering into the Pocket Shop as she pondered.

She had 407 Survival Coins. A complete household cleaning kit cost eighty, a memory-foam mattress cost 680, cotton bedding cost 300, a down pillow insert cost eighty, and comforters came in several grades—duck down, goose down, and eiderdown—with prices ranging from a few hundred coins to over a thousand.

She couldn’t afford it.

After making her declaration, Tang Danqing hesitated in the middle of the master bedroom.

The NPC waited a moment before answering. “Whatever you decide.”

This time, Shang You watched a cleaning kit appear out of thin air right in front of her. Tang Danqing picked up the broom and handed it over as if nothing unusual had happened.

“Then let’s give the place a quick clean.”

Shang You pushed down her astonishment. Surprise, trepidation, fear, even greed—her emotions jostled together, crowding in on her. She understood what she was seeing: a way out of the apocalypse.

But if Tang Danqing could act as if none of this were strange, so could she. Shang You calmly took the cleaning supplies.

“All right. I’ll get started.”

She really was a good NPC roommate. Tell her what to do, and she did it.

She seemed obedient, like a little rabbit, and careful about everything. Tang Danqing hadn’t known her long, but that was the impression she’d formed. A rabbit-type roommate. Nice. A sweet little bunny was easy to live with.

The NPC had been starving for so long that she was worryingly thin. The difference between her gray, doughy hands and Tang Danqing’s pale, doughy ones was obvious, even when they both made fists.

Tang Danqing wiped the dust from the bed frame and headboard for a while before she realized the NPC wasn’t in any shape to do much. She often got dizzy. Sometimes she had to stop sweeping and close her eyes for a moment. Tang Danqing even noticed her quietly adjusting her breathing. Work seemed to make her feel worse.

Tang Danqing remembered kicking the weightless NPC aside when she’d first entered the game. There’d been almost nothing to her.

The NPC hadn’t been strong enough to resist when Tang Danqing grabbed her, either.

So that was it. The NPC had been starving too long. She was malnourished and weak.

“Wait a minute,” Tang Danqing called to her.

She stepped over, took the broom from the NPC, and set it aside. Then she led her to sit on the bed frame Tang Danqing had just wiped clean and moved the heater from the doorway to her side.

“I didn’t think this through. Here, sit by the heater and rest. I’ll finish cleaning. Where’s the chocolate I gave you? If you’re dizzy, eat a piece. It’ll give you some energy.”

The NPC stared at her with clear, bright eyes.

Tang Danqing thought for a moment and opened the Shop. She bought a stainless-steel bowl and a bottle of mineral water for a total of seven Survival Coins.

She set the bowl on the heater’s grate, unscrewed the bottle, and poured the water in.

“Wait here for the water to heat up, then have some.”

Would this make the NPC “happy”?

Tang Danqing remembered the quest, gave her a smile, and turned back to cleaning with renewed enthusiasm.

The NPC sat very obediently, staring intently at the stainless-steel bowl as the water slowly heated.

Once Tang Danqing had swept the floor, she casually asked, “Did you eat the chocolate?”

The NPC answered softly, “No.”

Tang Danqing came back after taking out the trash and asked again, “Why didn’t you eat it? Don’t you like dark chocolate?” Was it too bitter?

Shang You heard an unmistakable confidence in Tang Danqing’s voice when she said, “don’t like.” She spoke like someone who had plenty of supplies.

Just how much food did she have? Shang You didn’t ask.

Greed could bring trouble.

The NPC lowered her voice. “I want to save it…”

Tang Danqing reconsidered. Right. The NPC had so little food that she was scared. It made sense that she wanted to save what she had.

She’d just eaten a bowl of noodles, so she probably wasn’t hungry anymore. Tang Danqing decided not to press her.

A little while later, while Tang Danqing was cleaning, a prompt suddenly appeared before her:

[Achievement Unlocked: Drink More Hot Water.]

[Achievement Reward: 200 Survival Coins.]

Heating a bowl of water on the heater had unlocked the Achievement!

Tang Danqing and the NPC split the hot water between them. The NPC stayed by the heater to warm another bowl while Tang Danqing soon finished cleaning the master bedroom.

She put down the rag and let out a breath. At the same moment, she unlocked a third Achievement.

[Achievement Unlocked: Starting Today, It’s Labor Day.]

[Achievement Reward: 200 Survival Coins.]

Great! Tang Danqing’s eyes lit up. If she unlocked just two more Achievements, she could collect both the Achievement rewards and the reward for Side Quest 1.

Then she’d have money again!

The master bedroom had two more rooms: a bathroom and a walk-in closet.

There wasn’t a trace of moisture left in the bathroom. The toilet’s flush lever was frozen solid, the wooden foot bath felt as hard as iron, and the shutoff valve under the sink had frozen brittle and snapped off. The walk-in closet held a few uninsulated bathrobes, white shirts, useless ties, and gaudy ornaments. The mirror had fogged over.

Tang Danqing searched carefully for a long while before finding a scented candle. Relying on a hunch, she lit it with one of the fire starters.

[Achievement Unlocked: Light a Little Candle.]

[Achievement Reward: 200 Survival Coins.]

The prompt appeared, and she was delighted. She’d guessed right again!

Tang Danqing went out to find the NPC. She was sitting in front of the heater, holding the stainless-steel bowl in both hands.

As soon as she saw Tang Danqing, she stood up. “The water’s hot. What else can I do for you?”

“I’m sorry… I promise I’ll rest for one more day. Then I’ll be able to help more…”

Shang You spoke in a meek, ingratiating voice, watching Shan Qing’s reaction.

Tang Danqing smiled.

Roommates should share the responsibility of maintaining their home, sure. But she wasn’t heartless enough to turn into the kind of player who treated her roommate like a source of cheap labor.

She needed to help this unfortunate roommate regain her strength first. Only then could the NPC become a useful game assistant.

Tang Danqing waved her over and led her into the kitchen. “How long have you been staying here?”

As she spoke, she searched the fridge, stove, and cupboards. They were all empty. Not a thing.

What else could unlock an Achievement?

The NPC said, “I… came here while fleeing… half a month ago.”

“There wasn’t any food in here when I arrived…”

So she hadn’t eaten it.

Shang You watched Tang Danqing’s hands, tense and wary. There were no knives left in the kitchen, but Tang Danqing still had that razor blade in her pocket… Was she going to kill Shang You now?

The smile and sudden search made her uneasy.

Tang Danqing checked the fridge’s plug and light switch. Neither worked. She glanced around and asked, “So there’s no power at all? How did you manage at night?”

What a realistic apocalypse.

The change of subject caught Shang You off guard. She hid her feelings and answered, “I slept… Before it got completely dark, I could adjust my eyes and make out a little.”

Tang Danqing left the kitchen, asking as she went, “And the water’s completely shut off, too?”

“Yes… But you can still dig ice chips out of the pipes. Some of them are drinkable. If you need water, I can show you…”

[Achievement Unlocked: I Want to Know More.]

[Achievement Reward: 250 Survival Coins.]

[Quest Complete! Reward: 500 Survival Coins.]

[Side Quest 3: Keep exploring and unlock 10 Achievements. (5/10)]

Tang Danqing hadn’t meant to do anything in particular, but she’d stumbled into a reward. Prompts appeared one after another in the air, and she was delighted.

She’d just earned two new batches of Survival Coins. She checked the Shop. Her balance had climbed to 1,670!

“No rush. Come on.” She raised her brows with a smile and led the NPC back to the master bedroom.

The bed frame was still bare, but Tang Danqing had a little more money now.

“I probably can’t get the water or electricity working today, but I can at least make sure you sleep comfortably tonight. We’ll make do with what we have. Would you rather have a mattress with a cotton quilt, or a rug underneath and a warmer duck-down comforter on top?”

Tang Danqing stood at the foot of the bed, patting the frame as she asked the NPC.

To be honest, it was already evening in the game, and she’d be logging off soon. She certainly wasn’t going to sleep here overnight. The bed and bedding were all for her NPC roommate. So she was asking the NPC what she wanted.

Shang You froze. Had she heard that right? Or… was she dreaming?

Everything was starting to feel more and more like a dream.